Standing in the Smoking Rubble

     Jeremiah stood in dazed shock as he gazed upon the smoking ruins of his beloved Jerusalem. Even knowing ahead of time what was surely coming to this wicked city could not prepare him for the trauma of actually experiencing it. And on top of this great loss, the few survivors of the disaster continued to mock and reject him and his message.

     Jeremiah's great pain was compounded by his limited understanding of God's character and nature (yes, he was captive to his time and culture). Thus his lament in Lamentations 3:1 ff is one of anger against God because his understanding of God left him believing that God caused everything in life, and his life had been filled with failure, rejection and loss. So we read some really angry words about God in this lament: "He has dragged me off the path and torn me in pieces, leaving me helpless and devastated. He has drawn his bow and made me the target for his arrows. He shot his arrows deep into my heart. My own people laugh at me. All day long they sing their mocking songs. He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink. He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust." (Lamentations 3:11-16 NLT) Wow! This man was angry, and his anger flowed out in angry accusations against the God who had called him to his admittedly rather miserable life! (Jeremiah's frankly expressed anger reveals to us how human it is to express those secret outbursts of anger at God as we perceive Him, eh?).

     It is Jeremiah's anger, partly rooted in a misunderstanding of God's nature, that makes the "rest of the story" so encouraging. Here in the smoking rubble of Jeremiah's circumstances and lament, we read Jeremiah's brilliant statement of reconciliation to the God Jeremiah did not understand but nonetheless still trusted. Many believers are quite familiar with the words in Lamentations 3:21-26. After Jeremiah describes more of his bitter state ("Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost! ...I will never forget this awful time as I grieve over my loss." vv. 18b, 20), he breaks into the following remarkably hope-filled song.

Yet still I dare to hope when I remember this:

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh every morning.

I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him!"

The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.

So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.

     I read these words this week, led by Holy Spirit to do so, I trust, as I stood again in the smoking rubble of my life, trying to understand not only my own recent loss and failure to lay hold of healing for Jettie but wrestling as well with the struggles of many others whom I love. As I read these words I found many parallels to what I was feeling, yet I also rejoiced in knowing that God has now revealed Himself more completely to us through Jesus so that we know He is not the cause of evil. Knowing that God in His grace is far kinder than the God Jeremiah perceived made it easier for me to once again give up my need to understand (a subtle form of the need to control) and settle into waiting for God's kindness to be revealed. His kindness, of course is always present, but we often cannot see it, until we allow Him to clear our vision by His grace!

     Perhaps some of you, like Jeremiah, have wondered if God was against you. Nothing is further from the truth (Romans 8:31 comes to mind), but our misperceptions about God in the midst of painful circumstances can make it feel like that! My prayer for you and me, though, is that the brilliant breakthrough that the angry and bitter Jeremiah experienced will shine in our hearts even more brightly than it did for this brokenhearted prophet. God is good, all the time. His kindness never ceases, His mercies are refreshed every morning, and even when we rail against Him, He refuses to stop pursuing us with goodness and love. 
     Oh, Papa God! How truly amazing you are! Even as I stand in the rubble, smoke clouding my vision, your radiant goodness gives hope. How can I not hear your invitation to trust you and wait quietly for the goodness that is yet to come?!!

Tom, one of Abba's little boys.